Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Happy New Year!

As many times as you've heard about New Year's Resolutions, and whether
you participate or not, you probably can admit that a lot of the ones
people make are lost by... say mid January? If not sooner!

Why do we have such a hard time making good changes in our lives? Well,
we are all born with a sin nature, but we are also given a new nature
and live by the Spirit's power as Christians. We know that God uses
everything in our lives for our good, but sometimes we still want to
control our lives, and we think "This thing I want is good." But God
knows what, and when, things are best - when the timing makes us grow to
be more like Christ.
Which teaches you more - when you want a new phone and your dad just
gives you one that same day, or when you have to wait? (I didn't say
which is more fun!)

A few weeks ago at church, my pastor suggested that the Bible teaches
that change comes from daily renewing our minds with the truth.

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be
able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and
perfect will."

Sometimes we need help seeing where our minds need to think more like
Christ, and less like our sin nature, less like the world, and less like
the lies we come across that sound really true. God's Word does this
for us. Have you ever believed a lie like,
"My sin isn't really that bad," or the opposite "God can't forgive what I
have done!" How about, "If I were thin then I would feel accepted," or
"If I dress differently then people will notice me," or "That person's
ruined my life forever and I'll never be happy again."

God's Word tells us the truth about our situations -

Romans 3:23
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (NIV)

1 Peter 3:18
"For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the
unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but
made alive by the Spirit."

1 Samuel 16:7
"But the LORD said to Samuel, 'Do not consider his appearance or his
height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things
man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at
the heart.'"

Matthew 6:25-26
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat
or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than
food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they
do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father
feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"

John 10:10
"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."